Academic Commons

The Female Social Role and How It Causes Higher Rates of Depression in Women Versus Men

In 1972, psychologist Phyllis Chesler wrote that there was “a consistently largefemale involvement with psychiatry in America, an involvement that has been increasingrather dramatically since 1964.” (Chesler, p. 119) Unfortunately, this involvement hasbeen increasing still since Chesler published her book. According to the NationalInstitute of Health’s website, updated in September of 2010, more than 20 millionpeople in today’s American society are suffering from depression and, more specifically,the number of women suffering from depression is twice that of men. The social role projected ontofemales in the United States makes women more vulnerable to depression and thuscauses the rates of depression in women to be double that of men.